After Obama's re-election, I've never been prouder of my country

Letter writer Ilene O'Connell says the re-election of Barack Obama as president has made her "ashamed of my country" ("Ashamed of the country that re-elected Obama," Nov. 8).

She is entitled to her opinion but not to create her own facts to support it. The fact is that the president — any president — has very little control over the price of gasoline. That's in the hands of the oil-rich nations and the big oil companies, who of course adjust the availability of supplies to make the most money.

President Obama inherited the extreme problems of a highly dysfunctional Bush administration, whose combination of trickle-down economic theories and a senseless war in Iraq brought the country to its knees.

Mr. Obama spent the last four years battling obstructionist Republicans who openly declared their intent to make him a one-term president and who did everything in their power to make that happen.

Yet in spite of that we are making progress in jobs, housing prices and other economic areas. This president was able to get a health care bill passed that will give millions of Americans health insurance they were previously denied.

It was this president who brought Osama bin Laden to justice, something Republicans promised but were never able to deliver. This president is bringing the soldiers in Iraq home to their families, and he dealt effectively dealt with Hurricane Sandy while Mitt Romney tried to look relevant and dodged questions about his desire to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Our country rejected a candidate who thought his health insurance proposal covered pre-existing conditions when it actually didn't. If he didn't understand his own health insurance plan, how could he understand mine?

Our country rejected a candidate who wanted to turn back the clock and restrict a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. Our country rejected a candidate who wanted us to guess what his economic plan was and then just trust him.

Our country rejected a candidate who displayed a chameleon-like ability to become whatever he thought voters wanted him to be but who never seemed quite able to determine who he really was. Our country rejected a candidate who wanted to return to the same policies that got us in this mess in the first place.

Americans saw through all the flash and dash of the Republican candidate and concluded that ultimately he was not the man for the job. We are an intuitive lot, we Americans, and every now and then we truly shine. I have never been more proud of my country.